In the prior art, various means have been developed for reducing environmental contamination due to incomplete or deficient combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, including the use of fuels containing contaminants, especially sulfur and derivatives of this element, such as SH2 and mercaptans, in which the process of combustion generates SO2 and SO3, the effects of which are well known. This aspect of the environmental contamination has been faced and to a great extent solved, by subjecting the fuel to a process of desulfurization, with the object of reducing the sulfur content to tolerable limits.
The improvement of uncontaminated fuel has been the object of many investigations and trials with the object of reducing the emissions of CO.sub.2, nitrogen oxides, soot, and the like as a consequence of the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon fuels and the accompanying formation of nitrogen oxide. These investigations have led to the use of several catalytic systems and filters which receive the gases and the smoke of combustion. It is known to use complex catalytic agents formulated on the basis of noble metals such as platinum and palladium as well as several transition metals, with varying degrees of success.
By means of the above mentioned processes, an attempt is made to resolve the problem of environmental contamination, by correcting the composition of the gases and smoke caused by the combustion, leaving aside the causes which produce these contaminants. The solution of this problem admits of another alternative, namely enrichment of the fuels with certain additives, considered in general as catalytic agents in relation to oxidation of the fuel in an internal combustion engine, particularly in relation to the conversion of CO to CO2, the oxidation of intermediate elements arising from the partial oxidation of the hydrocarbons, and/or the reoxidation of carbon (soot) etc. Among the additives already tested, and the use of metal alcoholates of Groups 1A and 2A (particularly in the methoxide of sodium in a solution of anhydrous ethyl alcohol and tetraethyl lead. The latter composition has been shown to have adverse environmental effects as well.